A FEAT 1306 days in the making, GWS Giants have notched up back-to-back wins. The last time the orange team achieved the feat was in Round 5, 2022 after knocking off St Kilda by two points. An eerily similar game to their seven-point win over rivals Sydney on the weekend when leading by that exact margin during the last quarter.

If that coincidence was not strange enough, the first of those back-to-back wins in 2022 was a 21-point win over the Western Bulldogs, the identical deficit in the Giants’ breakthrough victory over the Dogs in Round 5.

For Giants coach Cam Bernasconi, he was living in the now, saying the win was “up there” in his time as coach, and he could not be more proud of his players.

“I’m probably not going to cry in this presser like I did last week,” he said. “It was great, I think this year was about showing improvement and you obviously get that through win and loss but we haven’t won two in a row in a long time. “To do it today in front of 7000 fans, probably a lot of Swans fans as well, it’s pretty special. “There’s a great rivalry there, but our ability to go out and win two in a row in these circumstances is really special. I’m so proud of them.”

After earning the breakthrough win last week following more than 12 months without a victory, Bernasconi said the weight of winning was lifted, and the Giants could properly focus on obtaining consistent output.

“As soon as we got that win off our chest, I kind of had a feeling we would do that today,” he said. “It was probably one of the more confident games going into because we’re not chasing that win to get the pressure off, we’re just playing our way and the bi-product is winning.

“The girls were great during the week as well, we enjoyed the win last week as well because it’s important to enjoy it. “But I thought we had a really consistent, calm week as well so we came to get a win and we achieved it.”

Funnily enough the Swans were not in existence last time the Giants won back-to-back games, only entering the competition a season later – which was only seven months on. The first time the sides played, GWS won by 47 points, but has lost the last two by a combined eight points.

Bernasconi said it was pleasing to fall on the right side of the ledger this time.

“If we go back to the last couple of years, the Swans have won the last two Derbies all within a kick so they’ve fell on the other side of the last two years,” he said. “I loved that we learnt from that. “We do a lot of training on scenarios of when the game’s close because we’ve been in so many close games, it’s great to be able to see us finally execute it and win.

“I think we had 90 per cent of the players in the back 50 at one point and they kept evening up, but the girls just stayed composed and to see that was just awesome.”

The Giants mentor admitted he had “wound them up a little bit” before they went out on the ground to ensure the fire in the belly was red-hot. They matched the Swans throughout the match and booted the last goal of the game to finish off strong.

“You play footy for big games,” Bernasconi said. “Finals and Derbies, because there’s a bit more pressure on it, but it’s a little bit of that tribal feeling to it as well, there’s a healthy rivalry between both clubs and I just leant into that a little bit this week, a bit more than usual.

“We want to get some respect back, we’ve lost the last two and we think we’re better than that. “You just don’t get respect you’ve got to go and earn it, so I think the girls stepped in really well early.”

GWS has never won three games in a row, with the best run coming during 2018 or Season 2, when the Giants went undefeated for four games, but that included a draw. Standing in the way of history are the West Coast Eagles who host the Giants at Mineral Resources Park next Sunday to close our Round 7.